“Booting Thatcher is one thing. But maiming him? Too messy.”
“What a relief that you’re the type to exile, not dismember,” she replies with a dramatic swipe across her brow.
I don’t mention that if anyone tried to hurt her, all bets would be off, and I’d gladly steal a tactic or two from a fictional mafia boss.
I’m saved from replying when Noelle gasps, her hand flying to her mouth as she takes in the view when we reach the top of the ridge.
Below is a small valley with a frozen pond surrounded by pine trees. Icicles hang heavy from the lower branches, catching the light and turning the grove into a cathedral of glass. The pond is smooth and glossy, a solid sheet of ice gleaming like polished marble.
“Shep, this place is amazing,” she says in awe.
“I knew you’d like it.” I tuck her hand in mine, guiding her along the trail I’ve already packed down to the pond. “What do you say we go ice-skating?”
While planning out the two days leading up to Christmas, I recalled her telling me that ice skating at Rockefeller Center was one of her favorite traditions. That’s when I knew I had to bring her here.
Her eyes widen with a mixture of delight and disbelief. “Seriously? Is it safe?”
“Of course, darlin’.”
I came out early this morning to test the ice thickness and cleared off one of the wooden benches I built ages ago. The pond had been a selling point when I bought the mountain property, but I haven’t been here in a long time.
Noelle rests her hand on my shoulder, and I glance around to see we’ve reached the bottom of the trail and have come to a spot near the pond.
“You alright?” she asks softly.
For a moment, I’m tempted to dismiss her concern, but I rethink it. She draws out a side of me that wants to be honest and share what I tend to keep under lock and key.
“It’s been years since I was here. Growing up as an only kid, I pictured having a big family and wanted to turn this place into a retreat with a gazebo, a fishing dock, and a firepit for summer nights. When I realized that I’d probably never have kids of my own, I stopped working on it… and eventually stopped visiting this spot.”
“There’s still plenty of time to have everything you’ve always wanted,” Noelle says with a soft smile.
I scoff. “I’m forty-five, not exactly in my prime. I’ve accepted that finding someone who would want to live on a mountain and start a family may not be in the cards for me.”
It’s not lost on me that my long stretch of isolation hasn’t done me any favors. Casey constantly needles me to hang out at High Noon or grab a meal at the diner in town—the one I’ve avoided since my parents died because it was their favorite place—but I’ve grown so used to being alone that socializing feels… foreign. It’s ironic that the woman who finally gave me a reason to come out of my shell showed up on my doorstep.
Noelle steps closer, her fingertips tracing the coarse line of my mustache, waiting for me to meet her gaze before she speaks. “Don’t say that, Shep. You’ll make an amazing father someday.”
Her conviction makes it hard to argue.
“There’s no guarantee of that,” I whisper.
“Life has a way of surprising us,” she says, letting her hand drift to the nape of my neck, threading her fingers through my hair. “As long as we stay open to the possibilities it brings along.”
I want to believe that more than anything, but the longer I spend with her, the more I doubt anyone will ever compare. And I’m starting to wonder if it was fate that led her to my cabin.
Noelle leans in, capturing my mouth in a tender kiss. “I’ll believe for the both of us until you’re ready to believe it too.”
Fuck, this woman is perfect. What I wouldn’t give to have her stay longer.
I trace a finger along her jaw. “Thanks for giving me a reason to hope again.”
She doesn’t have to know that I mean it in more ways than one.
“Always, cowboy.” She presses one more chaste kiss to my lips. “Now, didn’t you say we were going skating?”
I nod, grateful for a lighter shift in the mood and can’t wait to make a new memory in a place that’s long been shadowed by what might have been.
Noelle giggles when I scoop her into my arms and carry her to the bench I’d cleared of snow and covered with a blanket. At oneend are the two pairs of skates and a thermos of hot chocolate I brought out earlier when I was prepping the area.
